ARTICLES ABOUT COAL BY DATE - PAGE 4

ISLE OF WIGHT - The Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors on Thursday will discuss rescinding its November 2010 resolution opposing Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's controversial $6 billion, coal-fired power plant proposed for Surry County Supporters and opponents of the coal plant are expected to sound off during the citizen's comment portion of the meeting. The board meets at the Isle of Wight Courthouse, starting with a finance session at 4 p.m., followed by the regular business meeting at 5 p.m. The former board voted 3-1 in November to adopt a resolution opposing the coal plant, largely because of potential environmental concerns and the future impact of economic development.

ISLE OF WIGHT – Round 2 of Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's battle in Surry County is about to begin. The new public hearings related to the company's controversial proposal to build Cypress Creek Power Station, a 1,500-megawatt coal-burning power plant in Dendron, start next month. After a lawsuit rendered its 2010 approval of the company's rezoning and conditional-use permits void, the Surry County Planning Commission has scheduled a new public hearing from 7-10 p.m. Feb. 27 at the county's government complex.

SURRY – The Surry County Planning Commission has scheduled a new public hearing for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's proposed coal-fueled power plant for late next month. The planning commission's public hearing will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Surry County Government Complex. The original hearing was declared void after five county residents won a lawsuit alleging that the community was not properly notified of the Dendron Town Council's intent to vote immediately after the board's February 2010 public hearing.

Jimmy Coale vividly recalls the camps and disappointments. Virginia and Wake Forest. Vanderbilt and North Carolina State. Major conference football programs just weren't interested in his middle son, a modestly sized receiver. No matter that Danny Coale ran smart, fast routes and rarely dropped a pass. No matter that he was an outstanding student. Family connections didn't even help. Danny's older brother was a lacrosse player at Virginia. A former teammate of Jimmy's was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative announced that it will reapply for land use permits to build what would be the state's largest coal-fired power plant in Surry County. The decision comes less than a month after a Circuit Court judge ruled the Dendron Town Council incorrectly advertised a public hearing in 2010 in which it voted in favor of a zoning change and other permits necessary to build the plant. The judge's order essentially halted the project. The cooperative could have appealed the judge's ruling, but instead chose to take its case to the council.

The Yorktown Power Station and Chesapeake Energy Center, the two largest coal-fired power plants in Hampton Roads, burn on average 6,700 tons of coal every day. The plants, which date to the 1950s, create enough electricity for 260,000 households. Yet both will soon stop burning coal, which is subject to new federal rules that aim to cut the amount of mercury, ozone and other pollutants entering the nation's air and waterways. Ceasing those operations, combined with a stalled effort to build a massive coal-fired power plant in Surry County, has put Hampton Roads on a path away from the potent, yet dirty, fossil fuel.

Four days prior to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer indicated he was still in evaluation mode regarding which punter would start for his team against Clemson. He clearly made the appropriate call when he opted to go with Danny Coale for the second straight week. Coale, a senior, averaged 49.7 yards per attempt on three first-half punts. His first punt of the third quarter went for 60 yards. It was his second 60-yard punt of the game.

Disrespectful of JFK • Steve, Yorktown: Your Nov. 22 photo of tourists posing — and smiling — at the spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated was a poor choice to run on the 48th anniversary of this tragedy. Surely your newspaper could have found a more respectful photo. • Bill, Williamsburg : The color photo of grinning tourists standing on the "X" in the street where President Kennedy was murdered is very offensive to someone who remembers that tragic event.

ISLE OF WIGHT - It's not often that small-town residents challenge corporate America – and win. But that's exactly what happened last week, when a Surry Circuit Court judge ruled that the town of Dendron and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's rezoning for a controversial coal-fueled power plant two years ago is worthless because the public hearings weren't legally advertised. Surry residents Mike Drewry, Helen Eggleston, Willie Richardson Jr. and John Pond said they filed the case because they didn't feel like town leaders listened to their views.

ISLE OF WIGHT — After a short, and sometimes heated, discussion, a divided Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to approve a resolution opposing Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's controversial $6 billion, coal-fired power plant proposed for Surry County. Supervisors Tom Wright and Stan Clark, who were defeated in last week's election, and Supervisor JoAnn Hall voted for the resolution. Supervisor Al Casteen, the only incument who was re-elected, opposed, saying he doesn't believe the county has enough information and that he doesn't believe the county should be taking a stance against a Surry project.